The apartment she shared with Liam.
“Don’t worry,” Miranda said as she poured me a glass of wine, “Liam won’t be coming home drunk this time.”
“You hope, right?” I asked with a grin.
Miranda shook her head. “That’s not funny, Emily.”
“Oh, I’m just messing around. I didn’t think anything of it. I’ve seen Liam drunk many times.”
“Well, it matters to me,” Miranda said. “I don’t need him fumbling around with my friends and looking like a complete asshole.”
“One night though, right?”
“Are you defending him?”
“No,” I said. “You know what? He’s an asshole. He’s the worst ever. Let’s bash him.”
Miranda finally smiled. “I get your point. So… what happened with Jon? I never got the full story.”
I shrugged my shoulders. “He just showed up to the bakery and announced he was breaking up with me. Like I told you. That was it.”
“Did you hear from him?”
“Nope.”
“Did you text him?” Miranda asked in a scolding voice.
“Nnnnoooo…,” I said and cringed.
Miranda put her head back. “Emily. You can’t do that.”
“Why not?” I asked. “I wanted a real reason. Don’t I at least get that from him?”
“Sometimes you don’t,” she said. “Sometimes you just have to walk the hell away. Like, screw him. Don’t give him the power. Every time you text him, it makes him smile.”
“Smile?” I asked.
“Yeah. Think about it. You texting means that door is still open. So let’s say Saturday night comes. He’s out with his buddies and he can’t get laid. Right? He gets home and he’s horny. His hand is no good to him. What does he do? He texts you back. Oh, girl, I’m so sorry for what I said and did. I’ve been thinking… we should work this out. Come over. Let’s talk. I miss you. I want you.”
Miranda pretended to throw up.
She had a good point.
“I stopped texting him,” I said.
“That sounds like you sent a lot of texts.”
“A few.”
“How many is a few?” Miranda asked.
“More than a few.”
“Emily…”
“I said I stopped,” I said. “This isn’t easy for me. My life is crazy right now. The bakery…” I stopped and looked down.
“Hey, we’re off the clock,” Miranda said. “This is us as friends, right?”
“The bakery is a pain in the ass,” I said. “I sometimes wish I never took it over. And my only way out without screwing you over is to have this guy who wants to buy everything, buy me out.”
“Who?” Miranda asked. Her eyes lit up. “I would love to get out from under that building. Hey, let’s do this then… you get close to this guy. Right? Worst case, sleep with him a few times. Get him on board. You unload your business and I unload my building. What do you think?”
Miranda’s eyes were really big.
This was what she always did. An idea would hit and it was warp speed forward.
“Wait a second,” I said.
“What? You can’t take some bad dick for the good of us?”
“Why don’t you… never mind…”
“Hey,” she said. “Between you and me. If I needed to fuck someone to get out of owning this building, I would.”
“Don’t say that,” I said.
“I’m serious. I would rather smooth things over with Liam than keep this building any longer.”
“You don’t mean that,” I said. “You’d never do that to Liam.”
“Try me,” Miranda said.
I wanted to slap her across the face.
But before the urge could overtake me, the door opened.
Liam was home.
“Oh, hey, Emily,” Liam said. “I didn’t know you were here.”
“I invited her over,” Miranda said.
“I’m going to go hit the gym then,” he said. “You two keep talking about whatever it was you were talking about.”
Yeah. Sure. Miranda was just talking about cheating on you for her own personal and business gain.
“Don’t go anywhere,” Miranda said.
Liam froze in place. “What?”
“Come over here,” she said. She slid a third wine glass across the counter. “Have a drink. Tell us about your day.”
What the hell is going on here?
“Are you okay?” Liam asked Miranda.
“I’m fine,” she said.
“How are you, Emily?” Liam asked me.
“Great,” I said. “How was your day?”
“Busy. Yours?”
“Busy,” I said.
“So was mine,” Miranda said. “Let’s drink to that and then talk.”
“Talk?” Liam asked.
“Drink up,” Miranda said with a smile.
I knew that smile on her face. I didn’t like it one bit.
It was her planning smile.
Something was going on here…
Miranda put her wine glass down. “I’m leaving for Boston…”
“What?” I asked.
“You didn’t tell her?” Liam asked.
“Boston?” I asked.
“Conference thing,” Miranda said. “I’ll tell you the details later. That’s not important right now. See, Liam said he was going to go with me but then backed out at the last second.”
“I didn’t do that,” Liam said. “Are you serious right now?”
I felt my cheeks get warm.
Please don’t argue in front of me…
“Well, it’s true,” Miranda said. “Which is fine now. Liam is staying here. I’m going to Boston. Blah, blah, blah. But… it’s why we’re sitting here together, drinking wine.”
“Why is that?” I asked.
“I needed you two together at the same time,” Miranda said. She lifted her wine glass again. “Cheers…”
“We already did that,” Liam said. “This is getting weird. What’s up?”
Miranda leaned against the counter and bit her bottom lip for a second.
Then she spoke.
“I have an idea for you two…”
Chapter Eleven
Liam
I had no idea where Miranda was going with whatever it was she wanted to talk about.
I had a long day at the office. The kind of day that had me standing at the window, thinking about life. Nothing extreme like jumping out of the window, but just wondering what would have happened in my life if I took a left or a right turn here and there.
Those days came and went, as they did for everyone.
My plan had been to come home, take a hot shower, have a stiff drink, and forget about the day.
I did not expect to see Emily in the kitchen.
Not that it was a bad sight.
The way she looked at me and smiled, there was a sense of comfort there. Almost to the point where I wanted to dump on the counter about my day. And knowing Emily, she’d listen, hear me, say something nice, then say something supporting. Or funny.